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Europe faces 'six tough months' of pandemic, WHO says

20 November 2020 03:31 (UTC +04:00)

A "tough" six months lies ahead for Europe, which is once again the epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned, APA reports citing BBC.

Hans Kluge, the WHO's Europe director, said the continent recorded more than 29,000 new Covid-19 deaths last week.

"That is one person dying every 17 seconds," he told a briefing on Thursday.

However, he said new cases were declining as lockdowns curb infections.

As a second wave of the pandemic gathered pace in October, most European countries reintroduced strict restrictive measures to stem the spread of the disease.

So far, Europe has seen 15,738,179 confirmed infections and 354,154 deaths attributed to the coronavirus, with only the Americas reporting higher region-wide figures, according to WHO data.